Purpose: The purpose of this memorandum is to request your assistance in reporting State and Center information for BLM’s FY 2005 Volunteer Annual Report and to alert you to a change in data collection for FY 2006.

Timeframe: This IM is effective immediately and has a due date of December 2, 2005.

Policy/Action: Attached are guidelines for use in collecting and submitting data for your office for FY 2005. Because of problems with the Intranet submission form, the Washington Office Environmental Education and Volunteers (EE&V) Group will send by separate e-mail an Excel spreadsheet to be used for the submission of numeric data. State and Center Volunteer Coordinators should consolidate Field Office data into one comprehensive form and write-up for that State or Center, noting in particular that the “Narrative Information” section requests the top four 2005 volunteer programs for each State or Center, not for every Field Office.

Your submission should include four parts: numeric data; narrative descriptions of the top four 2005 volunteer programs and special events; a list of partner organizations involved in volunteer programs and activities; and high-resolution photographs of your volunteers and volunteer activities.

Volunteer Coordinators should submit consolidated reports for FY 2005 by December 2, 2005.

Prints or slides of photographs should be sent by FedEx to Betsy (Elizabeth) Wooster of the Environmental Education & Volunteers Group at the following address: BLM, Environmental Education & Volunteers Group, 1620 L Street NW, Suite 406, Washington, DC 20036.

Beginning on October 1, 2005, State Volunteer Coordinators should continue to track hours in the traditional program areas (Recreation, Biological Resources, etc.). In addition, Field Offices should also track and report to State Coordinators how many of those hours are spent on projects in NLCS units. For data collection purposes in 2006, the EE&V Group will send you by separate e-mail a spreadsheet containing a list of NLCS units in your state. At the end of FY 2006, the EE&V Group will collect data for the 2006 Volunteer Annual Report as usual, along with the separate spreadsheet showing the hours spent on projects in NLCS units. This information will be shared with the WO NLCS staff.

Budget Impact: The Volunteer Annual Report provides an opportunity for States to quantify in hours the work accomplished in program areas during the FY that is not otherwise measured in MIS. It also improves BLM’s ability to communicate with internal and external audiences.

Background: BLM’s Volunteer Annual Report includes profiles of outstanding volunteer projects and events, as well as statistical information on state programs. The report provides a summary of volunteer efforts throughout BLM and, as such, serves to underscore the value of cooperative conservation and the important role of volunteers in caring for public lands. The Volunteer Annual Report serves as a valuable means of conveying this message to internal and external audiences.

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: N/A

Coordination: This IM was coordinated with State Volunteer Coordinators, members of the Volunteer Program Adjunct Team (VPAT), and staff from the National Landscape Conservation System.

Contact: If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Betsy Wooster at (202) 452-7731 or Mary Tisdale at (202) 452-0365.